


Pungence of Kos

by sushiisaurus



Category: Bloodborne (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, One Shot, Secrets, great ones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-16 07:53:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29203905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sushiisaurus/pseuds/sushiisaurus
Summary: "Oh, hello. Not a pretty sight, is it? The true face of the blood-worshipping, beast-purging Healing Church. But that's not all. You seek the secrets field by the Nightmare, do you not?" - Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower hides one of the biggest secrets of the Healing Church and she would do anything to protect it.
Kudos: 5





	Pungence of Kos

_"Byrgenwerth, Byrgenwerth… Blasphemous murderers, blood crazed fiends.  
_ _Atonement for the wretches… by the wrath of mother Kos.  
_ _Mercy for the poor wizened child, mercy. Oh please, atonement for the wretches.  
_ _Lay the curse of blood upon them, and their children, and their children's children for evermore.  
_ _Each wretched birth will plunge each child into a lifetime of misery…_  
_Mercy… For the poor wizened child…  
_ _Let the pungence of Kos cling like a mother's devotion."_

\---

She passed the patients and slowly approached the winding staircase, a delicate hand running along the polished wood all the way up. As she walked, she could hear her patients begging her but she never stopped, her eyes set in front of her. Her mind felt weary with the burden of secrets.

"Ah, Lady Maria, Lady Maria, please take my hand." It was one of the saner patients in the ward, one she still had hope for. Despite it, she knew the hope was fruitless. "Please… help me. Don't let me drown!"

She debated whether or not she should end the poor patient's suffering. It wouldn't be the first time she had killed an innocent soul.

Instead, she continued on her way. She supposed because of her curse, she needn't stop—her patients were doomed to their untimely fates anyway. It was all a matter of time, really. All the help she could give could barely ease their pain and suffering she had caused them.

"Oh, Lady Maria, save me please. I don't hear anything." It happened again. Another one of her patients, unable to hear the words of the Great Ones. She had long abandoned the hope of these experiments; attempts to make contact with the Great Ones ended in failure after failure.

She knew that if Gehrman knew about her endeavors, he would just laugh and laugh. There simply wasn't a way to contact them.

"Lady Maria, I'm a robin, will I ever curl up and become an egg? What say you? Lady Maria, Lady Maria, say something! Anything…"

She ignored their pleas now. Perhaps with this one final act she could truly atone for her sins and rid herself of her curse.

By the time she closed and locked the door to the balcony, one of the living failures caressed the flowers of the small courtyard slowly, uttering noises to itself. She walked through the flowers and paused at the thick tree in the middle and briefly touched it, taking in a deep breath. It had been ages since she had been up this far and a hint of a smile played at her lips.

The lumenwood was dead. The lingering scent of its foul pollen remained in the air, a looming cloud of despair.

She quickly removed her hand from the lumenwood and headed for the next set of doors that lead to the clocktower. As soon as the doors were closed, she leaned against them and looked up at the clock in the back.

She would remain here until her dying breath. None needed to know the secret of the Healing Church. They didn't need to know the atrocities that happened in the fishing hamlet, nor anything about Kos.

Even if she would somehow fail her duty to protect the secrets, she was confident that Brador would take care of any trespassers in a swift and efficient manner. Bitterly, she walked up the stairs and dragged one of the many wooden chairs with her to the end of the room along the way, the screeching piercing the air yet she made no indication that she heard it.

She sat down and pulled out a long blade that had rested on her hip. The two-piece sword reminded her so much of her beloved Rakuyo, though the name itself brought a grimace of disgust on her face. Was it guilt she felt? She wasn't sure anymore. Everything was so numb nowadays.

Perhaps here, in the Nightmare, she could find peace.

Part of her wanted to blame Master Willem for her curse but the other knew she deserved it. He had sent many of the old hunters like herself on a mission based on a whispered rumor that spread among the students of Byrgenwerth and even Laurence had inquired if his obsession was worth going all the way to a simple fishing village for a rumor.

What they had found was a dead Great One with child and without even a moment's hesitation, she had used her own blades to cut open the womb. She thought nothing of it at the time, but after she aided in the murders and examinations of the village occupants, she grew to loathe her blades and threw them in a well to be lost forever. It had been fitting that it was raining that day and after she had gotten rid of them.

Still, she hoped to somehow gain an ability to contact the Great Ones and perhaps even apologize for the Healing Church and her own gruesome acts.

She stared at the fake Rakuyo laying in her hands at the naïve thought.

Such creatures wouldn't listen to a hunter like herself. They, the hunters, had done enough damage to the world.

She rose the hand that held the blade and stabbed the smaller of the blades into her neck so fast, she couldn't even feel the pain as her last laugh echoed through the large room was the last thing she heard before her eyes closed themselves.

She would forever protect their secrets.

It was an undiscernible amount of time later when she felt something—a hand brushed against her gloved wrist. Were the Great Ones mocking her even in death? They couldn't give her peace afterwards, though she believed it fair. Kos' orphan could have survived had they not cut open the womb.

Then she was struck with a horrifying thought. _Hide Kos!_

Her eyes snapped open and her hand shot out then grabbed the forearm of the hunter before her. They were startled by the movement, she could see it in their nearly empty eyes. _A hunter?_ One she didn't recognize.

Briefly she wondered what kind of horrors this hunter had seen along their journey and she pulled them a little closer. "A corpse should be left well alone," she told them.

Slowly she released the arm and the hunter took a few steps back as she stood up. Her duty had not been fulfilled. She must protect the secrets that haunted the hamlet. Even another hunter mustn't learn of the dead Great One.

She took her time to stand and unsheathe her cursed blades. She kept her eyes on the hunter as she took the middle part of the blades with both hands. "Oh, I know very well, how the secrets beckon so sweetly." The blade in her hands split into two and at the sound, the hunter before her rose their own defensively.

"Only an honest death will cure you now from your wild curiosity."

\---

_"Oh, good hunter. I can hear Gehrman sleeping. On any other night, he'd be restless. But on this night, he sounds so very calm… perhaps something has eased his suffering."_

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a while ago and forgot to post it here, haha (it's also posted on FFnet and Quotev). Thanks for reading!


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